Council to investigate links to troubled tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire
Scarborough Borough Council is the latest local authority to announce an internal investigation into its links with Welcome to Yorkshire.
The council has announced an internal investigation into whether it received value for money from its relationship with the organisation.
Scarborough paid £100,000 to host the Tour De Yorkshire last year and £125,000 to host the cycle race this year.
According to the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service, Scarborough council’s legal director, Lisa Dixon, said that initial investigations had taken place when the allegations against Welcome to Yorkshire’s chief executive Gary Verity came to light, but “more work was needed” to investigate the council’s relationship with the organisation.
In a statement, Richard Bradley, Scarborough Borough Council commercial director, said: “We have enjoyed a very successful and mutually beneficial relationship with Welcome to Yorkshire for many years, one which directly helps fund and support our tourism services at a local level and for which we have always worked hard to get good value for money for.
“We would like to put on record that our current relationship and funding arrangements with Welcome to Yorkshire remain unchanged. We are proud to work with an organisation that has the success of Yorkshire’s tourism economy at its heart and one that delivers millions of pounds to our borough’s economy, supporting jobs, livelihoods and our reputation as a first class visitor destination. The 2018 Tour de Yorkshire alone brought in an estimated £11,761,698 to our borough.”
Bradley said a review by the Council’s staff audit team had found “no concerns”.
He added: “Councillors asked for the partnership to be added to the committee’s future work programme so that they can receive regular updates on how the partnership works and best value principles, like they have for other external partnerships. There was never any mention of or consideration given to funding being withdrawn.”
Sheffield City Council and Hull City Council have suspended support until their internal investigations complete.
A Welcome to Yorkshire spokesperson added: “The Tour de Yorkshire is a joint venture between Welcome to Yorkshire and Amaury Sports Organisation.
“Local authorities this year have paid between £100,000 and £125,000 to be a start or finish of the Tour de Yorkshire depending on if they host just the men’s race or the men’s and women’s races together.
“Last year the Tour de Yorkshire generated £98m for the county’s economy with visitor spend up 54% on the previous year. 2.6m people watched the action at the roadside with 12.5m people tuning in, in 190 countries across the world.”
Welcome to Yorkshire and its current and former employees are subject to two investigations into expenses and behaviour at the organisation. BDO and Clarion are heading these inquiries.
The news follows the resignation of chairman Ron McMillan last week (23 April). He said that it was clear “that our Local Authority major sponsors are looking for a significantly revamped board to take the business forward.”
Chief executive Sir Gary Verity resigned in March 2019 after questions were raised over his expenses. He reportedly paid back £40,000 to the organisation, but said he was leaving for “personal reasons”.
